All - OMG! How stupid am I ... to forget about the valley hoses! Probably just a mental block, since I have never taken off the intake manifold before and am probably needlessly nervous about that. I have replaced just about all the other coolant system hoses - so am I in deep trouble with the (probably original factory) valley hoses just waiting to blow? I will have to get up my nerve for this job... but I see there are many resources for this job on the forum (thanks to all that have boldly gone before me!).

 

Honestly, the intake removal itself is NOT that complex nor difficult. Remember it is plastic bolting down into aluminum, so torque specs are lower than your old fashioned V8 Eldebrock dual plane bolting onto an iron small block Chevy. But in terms of actually pulling the intake off, if youʻve replaced the octopus and/or the T-stat housing; you've already qualified yourself to pull the intake to get at the valley hoses. Be sure to get new gaskets to seal the intake runner ports, and youʻre good to go.

 

^^ What he said.

It's more laborious than difficult.

 

Gordon and Mike ... Thanks for the encouraging words - I will look into ordering the parts and steeling myself for a winter's job with the valley hoses. Looks like plenty of guides on the how-to. Cheers!

 

I think the most common problem on this job was figuring out how to disconnect the "norma" connector. And that is pretty simple once you learn how to separate the two prongs which hold it fast.

 

I disconnected the Norma connector on the right front octopus hose connection by snipping pieces off it until it let go. Don't do this unless the octopus hose is going in the trash because once you do this, the octopus hose is going in the trash.